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deep intrinsic muscles of our spine, for
example, ‘should’ be predominantly
comprised of these non-fatiguable
fi bres. I say ‘should’ because it is often
the case that the necessary conversions
of white fi bres to red fi bres have not
occurred within these muscle groups
for reasons too complex to explain here.
In these cases, people fi nd it almost
impossible to sustain long periods of
upright sitting.
Comprehending these basics of
muscle fi bre recruitment enables us to
understand how human consciousness
infl uences the quality of our movement.
By thinking forcefully about your
fi tness training regime, you will cue
your nervous system to recruit the
fatiguable, white muscle fi bres. How
benefi cial – or detrimental – this may
be is dependent on what you are
attempting to achieve.
A popularised concept in fi tness
training is that of ‘core muscles’. This
refers to the more deeply-situated
intrinsic musculature of our locomotive
system that functions to maintain
the stability of our structure while
we are stationary or in movement.
Complimentary to these intrinsic
muscles is the more superfi ciallysituated
extrinsic musculature that
functions to move our limbs or torso
according to our wish at the time.
The composition of red and white
muscle fi bres within intrinsic and
extrinsic muscles should be weighted
towards the function of each, with the
larger, more powerful muscles in our
body recruiting greater amounts of the
fatiguable white muscle fi bres, and the
core muscles heavily recruiting with
the non-fatiguable, red muscle fi bres
(whether these fi bres are available in
suffi cient numbers for recruitment is
an outcome of the conversion process
mentioned in point 2 earlier, the subject
of another article).
Put your arms in the air
Try this experiment. Get a stop watch or clock with an alarm or a second hand that
you can easily see. Set it for one minute. Now, hold up your arms for 60 seconds
(or 30 seconds if that is too long). You will repeat this exercise two times.
FIRST TIME
Raise both arms, and take the attitude that it is an easy thing to do. Remember
your arms are part of the whole support system of your body, and be aware of
the space around you, with your arms resting in this space. Trust that every part
of you is involved in giving support to the arms, so you can ‘let them be’ while
you take in information from everything that surrounds you.
When your timer goes off, put your arms down, noting how they felt and how
long it felt you had them in the air.
SECOND TIME
After resting, repeat the arm-raising movement, change your attitude and start
thinking about how diffi cult it is to hold your arms up. Focus narrowly into only
your arms. Forget about the room, your body – just think of your arms and the
muscles that must work hard to keep your arms in that position. Keep thinking
‘I have to make an effort to hold my arms up, I have to keep telling them not to
drop down’.
When your timer goes off, put your arms down, noting how they felt and how
long it felt you had them in the air.
The fi rst time was probably much easier than the second time, because your
attitude caused the non-fatiguable red fi bres to come into play. The second time,
your attitude caused the fatiguable white fi bres to come into play. Remember:
every muscle has both kinds of fi bres, but the more our attitude changes,
the more we start developing the red non-fatiguable fi bres to give support to
everything we do.
FITNESS TRAINING THINKING
Bearing in mind the above experiment, consider what happens when I start
demanding that my core muscles give me stability – when my attitude towards
developing my core muscles is that I must put a lot of eff ort into it; a number of
harmful things occur.
Firstly, there is confusion for my nervous system. Support is not a function of
direct motor command, but when we think this way, motor command is the system
we are using, so we are already confusing the design of our system in thinking this
way, building up harmful tendencies which paradoxically lead to the atrophy of our
core muscles.
Secondly, once we stop thinking in this forceful way – which our motor
command is encouraging us to do against the very wish of our own training – the
core muscles stop supporting us in the way we want them to, because we actually
trained them to behave this way. The result is the opposite of our initial training
intention. As long as we keep up the eff ort, there is no problem. However, once
NETWORK WINTER 2010 www.fitnessnetwork.com.au
MIND BODY
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